passenger
(ˈpæsɪndʒə(r))
Forms: α. 4–7 passager, (5 -agour, 6 -agere). β. 5 passyngere, 6 -anger, Sc. -ingeoure, 6–8 passinger, 6– passenger.
[ME. passager, a. F. passager, -ier a passer by, a sojourner, a passenger on a ship, n. use of passager, -ier adj., passing, fleeting, temporary, sojourning, f. passage + -ier (= L. -āris). In late ME. n was phonetically inserted before -ger (-dʒər) as in some other words, including harbinger, messenger, ostringer, porringer, scavenger, wharfinger, etc.: cf. also popinjay. (See Jespersen in Engl. Studien XXXI. 239.)]
1. a. A passer by or through. b. A traveller (usually on foot), a wayfarer. Now unusual, exc. in foot-passenger: see foot 34 b.
α c 1330 R. Brunne Chron. Wace (Rolls) 16593 By passagers wel herde he seye Þe venimouse eyr was al a-weye. 1426 Lydg. De Guil. Pilgr. 16539 A Pylgrym or a passagour that kometh ffro fforeyne Cuntres. |
β a 1450 Myrc 845 Of scoler, of flotterer, or of passyngere Here schryft lawfully þou myȝt here. 1538 H. Medwall Nature (Brandl) 41/96, I let the wyt thou arte a passanger That hast to do a great and longe vyage. 1538 Starkey England i. ii. 60 Not as a passenger only. 1583 Stubbes Anat. Abus. i. (1879) 87 To beholde the passengers by. 1593 Shakes. 2 Hen. VI, iii. i. 129 A bloody Murtherer, Or foule felonious Theefe, that fleec'd poore passengers. 1615 Chapman Odyss. i. 266, I cannot think you a foot passenger. 1633 T. Adams Exp. 2 Peter i. 3 The passengers in mockery bad Christ come down from the cross. 1684 Contempl. St. Man i. vii. (1699) 74, I have nothing to do with this World;..I am only a Passenger. a 1710 Pope Alley 19 The snappish cur (the passenger's annoy) Close at my heel with yelping treble flies. 1828 Scott F.M. Perth xix, She avoided the High Street..and reached the wynd by the narrow lanes... Even these comparatively lonely passages were now astir with passengers. 1875 Emerson Lett. & Soc. Aims iv. 123 Every passenger may strike off a twig with his cane. |
† c. Rhet. Puttenham's name for the figure
paralipsis.
Obs. rare—1.
1589 Puttenham Eng. Poesie iii. xix. (Arb.) 239 marg., Paralepsis, or the Passager. |
2. One who travels or is carried in some vessel or vehicle,
esp. on board ship or in a ferry- or passage-boat; later applied also to travellers by coach, and by railway, tramway, or the like; now always with the implication of a public conveyance entered by fare or contract. (The prevailing sense.)
1511 Sir R. Guylforde Pilgr. (Camden) 72 Syr Christopher Palusyn and the best passengers aforesayde lefte and forsoke oure galye. 1611 Coryat Crudities 168 There are..ferries or passages..where passengers may be transported in a Gondola. 1726 G. Shelvocke Voy. round World 129 They brought with them the Spanish Captain, and some of the chief Passengers. 1796 Burke Regic. Peace ii. Wks. VIII. 239 They were then only passengers in a common vehicle. 1841 Penny Cycl. XIX. 248/2 The experiment of forming a railway for passengers as well as general merchandise traffic, had scarcely been tried. a 1901 Besant Five Years' Tryst, etc. (1902) 246 We stood on deck watching the arrival of the passengers. |
3. † a. A vessel that carries passengers; a passage-boat; a ferry-boat.
Obs.[1392 Earl Derby's Exp. (Camden) 279 Et pro vj passaiours et j balinger conductis de Caleys vsque Douer.] 1473 Sir J. Paston in P. Lett. III. 98 Yisterdaye ij passagers off Dovr wer takyn. 1513 Douglas æneis vi. vi. 18 Vnleful war, and ane forbodin thing Within this passinger our Stix to bring Ony leifand wycht. 1525 Ld. Berners Froiss. II. lvii. 197 He..toke the see in a passagere, & aryued at Calays. 1630 R. Johnson's Kingd. & Commw. 113 Three great ships and fifteene gallies, layed purposely..to intercept all English passengers. |
b. Ellipt. for
passenger train.
colloq.1886 H. Baumann Londinismen 132/1 Passenger,..passenger-train. 1920 ‘O. Douglas’ Penny Plain xxiii. 259 He could spend ecstatic days watching every ‘passenger’ and every ‘goods’ that rushed..along the permanent way. 1962 ‘D. Shannon’ Extra Kill ix. 145 I'd just taken a couple to the Union Station, I guess to make the Owl for San Francisco—only passenger I know of leaving about then. |
† 4. A ferryman, a ford-keeper.
Obs. rare.
a 1533 Ld. Berners Huon clvi. 597 When they wer ouer, the passanger, who was named Clarimodes,..demaunded of Huon what he and his wyfe were. 1534 Act 26 Hen. VIII, c. 5 §1 Oneles the said passangers..haue good knowledge of such person. 1573–80 Baret Alv. P 167 A passenger, one that conueigheth ouer manie, conuector. |
5. a. A bird of passage. Also
attrib. Obs.1579–80 North Plutarch (1595) 26 Which hath giuen some occasion to holde..that the vulters are passagers, and come into these partes out of straunge countries. 1624 Capt. Smith Virginia 171 Sometimes are also seene Falcons..but because they come seldome, they are held but as passengers. 1672 Sir T. Browne Let. Friend §4 Passager and migrant Birds..whom no Seas nor Places limit. |
b. spec. An adult hawk caught on its migration, a passage-hawk; also, a name for the Peregrine falcon; in full,
passenger falcon.
Obs.1575 Turberv. Faulconrie 176 Many times our happe is to haue Haggardes or Passengers, or Lentiners, the which haue flowen either to the Riuer, or prayed for themselues. 1611 Cotgr., Pelerin,..the Faulcon tearmed a Passenger. 1615 Latham Falconry Contents, Of the Passenger, or soare hawke. 1617 Minsheu Ductor, A Passenger faulcon. 1694 Motteux Rabelais iv. lvii. (1737) 236 Merlins, Hagards, Passengers, wild rapacious Birds. |
6. colloq. One of the crew of a racing-boat who adds to the weight without contributing his share to the work; hence, an ineffective member of a football team, etc. Also, in extended uses, one who takes a passive role in a group activity, enterprise, etc., making no personal contribution and requiring the continuous support of the rest.
1852 J. F. Bateman Aquatic Notes iii. 23 Some University scratch Four-oared Races were rowed... Here would be seen three good oars endeavouring to row along a ‘passenger’, of some eleven stone weight. 1885 [Remembered at Oxford]. 1892 Guardian 25 May 791/3 In the ordinary amateur band there are always several ‘passengers’. 1900 Westm. Gaz. 27 Feb. 4/3 The two inside men on the amateur side were practically ‘passengers’. 1908 Animal Managem. 297 A sick or lame ox should be removed from the span at once, as he..is in fact ‘a passenger’, and has to be dragged along by the others. 1914 Daily Mail 6 Apr. 9/4 There was not a passenger in any division of the winning team. 1932 Auden Orators i. 19 We simply can't afford any passengers or skrimshankers. 1932 Times Educ. Suppl. 6 Aug. 301/2 It is a lucky school that has no passenger on its staff. 1946 D. Hamson We fell among Greeks iv. 47 We nearly had to shoot both of them later on at different times, because they were lazy and untrustworthy and we had no room for ‘passengers’. 1948 ‘N. Shute’ No Highway xi. 288 As a scientist from Farnborough I was expected to be a passenger, useless in the woods. 1949 ‘J. Tey’ Brat Farrar xx. 185 You cannot expect to carry two adults as passengers in the estate... They are both capable of earning their own living. 1951 J. B. Priestley Festival at Farbridge ii. ii. 319 Theodore plodded on, like a man walking on a hot afternoon to some place he hated. ‘I'm beginning to feel I'm almost a passenger.’ 1957 Listener 28 Nov. 882/2 More women have had to learn to become self-reliant in the mountains, or at least not to be mere passengers. 1961 A. Wilson Old Men at Zoo ii. 79 If you haven't any appreciation at all for serious research work, then the sooner you get out..the better. We're carrying enough passengers already. 1964 J. Masters Trial at Monomoy vii. 219 I'd want to do my share of work. I don't want to be a passenger. 1971 L. P. Davies Shadow Before v. 49 The scheme was really yours in the first place. Jack Latham wasn't much more than a passenger. 1971 R. J. White Second-Hand Tomb vii. 72 It was..an affection born of patronage. Pamela was so obviously a passenger. |
7. a. attrib. and
Comb. Of or pertaining to passengers,
esp. by ship, railway, or other mode of conveyance; carrying passengers, paid by a passenger, etc.: as
passenger automobile,
passenger boat,
passenger cabin,
passenger car,
passenger carriage,
passenger coach,
passenger department,
passenger depot,
passenger door,
passenger elevator,
passenger fare,
passenger jetty,
passenger lift,
passenger liner,
passenger list,
passenger lounge (
spec. in an airport),
passenger manifest,
passenger pier,
passenger plane,
passenger seat,
passenger service,
passenger ship,
passenger side,
passenger station,
passenger steamer,
passenger terminal,
passenger ticket,
passenger trade,
passenger traffic,
passenger train,
passenger vehicle,
passenger way,
passenger window, etc.; of a passenger train, as
passenger engine,
passenger guard,
passenger line,
passenger locomotive, etc.;
passenger-carrying adj.;
passengerless adj. and
adv.1858 Simmonds Dict. Trade, Passenger-agent, a broker, licensed to engage passages in ships for emigrants. |
1900 Engineering Mag. XIX. 764/1 The passenger automobile is an accepted and rapidly-increasing institution. |
1839 Encycl. Brit. (ed. 7) XIX. 50/1 The passenger boats, going 10 miles an hour, charge from 1d. to 11/4d. per passenger, per mile. |
1946 R. A. McFarland Human Factors Air Transport Design xi. 492 The general arrangement of the passenger cabin will naturally vary with the type of service for which the plane will be used. 1952 Shell Aviation News No. 166. 24 (caption) Cutaway drawing showing interior arrangement of the 44-passenger Convair-Liner 340. Forward of the passenger cabin is a large compartment for baggage and cargo. |
1832 Amer. Railroad Jrnl. I. 305/3 Arrived, 9 passenger cars with 71 passengers. 1847 Hunt's Merchants' Mag. XVI. 211 Attached to this station, are also..two wood and water stations..a brass foundry, passenger car house, passenger rooms, offices &c. 1881 Chicago Times 4 June The passenger-cars..rival all competing lines in the magnificence of their finish. 1968 Globe & Mail (Toronto) 3 Feb. B 3/3 Extensive absenteeism by members of local 444 of the United Auto Workers forced a shutdown of the passenger car lines yesterday at the Windsor plant of Chrysler Canada Ltd. 1975 A. Bergman Hollywood & LeVine xiv. 211 Some Indian children waved at the train. They..stopped to stare at the silver blur of passenger cars. 1977 Reinforced Plastics XXI. 22/3 Engineering plastics materials have been used for many years for the production of cooling fans for passenger car engines. |
1838 Mechanics' Mag. 13 Oct. 32/1 The passenger carriages of the American railways are extremely large and commodious. They are seated for 60 passengers, and are made so high in the roof, that the tallest person may stand upright in them without inconvenience. 1879 Harper's Mag. July 165 A bustling little locomotive with one passenger-carriage comes whistling down the valley. 1978 N. Marsh Grave Mistake vii. 210 A slow train with a passenger carriage. |
1909 Daily Chron. 8 Sept. 1/6 He was placed third in the speed contest, fourth in the Gordon-Bennett Cup contest, and second in the passenger-carrying competition. 1928 Manch. Guardian Weekly 21 Sept. 224/4 It is with this passenger-carrying airship that the Germans hope to fly across the Atlantic. 1937 Discovery Sept. 270/2 The ultimate aim of all such experiments is the production of a passenger-carrying rocket plane. 1967 Jane's Surface Skimmer Systems 1967–68 87/2 The PT 20, a 27-ton boat for 75 passengers, is considered by Supramar to be the smallest size hydrofoil suitable for passenger-carrying coastal services. |
1841 Penny Cycl. XIX. 258/2 The weight of the ordinary passenger-coaches, when empty, is mostly from three to five tons. |
1849 Hunt's Merchants' Mag. XX. 342 A spacious freight and passenger depot..has been completed in the lower part of Detroit. 1958 Amer. Speech XXXIII. 145 Though both units are likely to be in the same building, separate reference is sometimes made to the freight depot and the passenger depot. |
1952 Shell Aviation News No. 165. 24 It is authorized that 87 occupants may be carried in aircraft with six exits, and one passenger door in the passenger area. 1968 K. Bird Smash Glass Image xii. 149 The dark-green Seat swung into the kerb... The passenger door opened. 1974 ‘J. Le Carré’ Tinker, Tailor xxxv. 311 In one of these blaring side-streets..Ricki Tarr would unlock the passenger door and hold him up at gun-point. |
1886 J. A. Porter New Stand. Guide Washington 205 The building..is furnished with passenger-elevator, steam-heating, deposit-vaults, speaking tubes. 1919 C. Morley Haunted Bookshop iv. 87 Maybe he had no right to be riding in the passenger elevator. 1926 Scribner's Mag. Aug. 196/1 We ain't no trunks. Take us up in a passenger-elevator. |
1839 Encycl. Brit. (ed. 7) XIX. 49/2 Expense for some coals drawn by passenger engines. |
1882 H. De Windt Equator 13 It is to be wondered how the passenger fares of this line can even be made to cover the outlay. |
1906 Westm. Gaz. 11 Dec. 6/3 One would almost imagine that the running of a passengerless train from station to station,..would ‘grow’ on the conductors. 1952 R. Finlayson Schooner came to Atia 110 He was soon back, passengerless. |
1907 Shipping World 16 Jan. 111 (Advt.), S.S. ‘Lusitania’ is being fitted with Passenger Lifts. 1931 Times 16 Mar. 21/7 An unique and beautifully-fitted flat, ideally situated and equipped with constant hot water, central heating, passenger and service lifts. 1938 M. Allingham Fashion in Shrouds xv. 248 They came up in a small handworked passenger lift to a front door. 1975 D. Bloodworth Clients of Omega xxii. 207 Dr. Moondance..will take the fast number one passenger lift to the fiftieth floor. |
1851 Min. Proc. Inst. Civil Engin. X. 255 Owing to the different value now put upon the resistances to railway trains at high velocities,..good gradients had become relatively of less importance on passenger lines. |
1843 Dickens Mart. Chuz. (1844) xvi. 196 I've just now sent a boy up to your office with the passenger-list. 1869 ‘Mark Twain’ Innoc. Abr. xx. 199 We had the whole passenger list for company. 1928 Kipling Bk. of Words 268 H.M.S. Great Britain carries a passenger list..of forty-five millions. 1931 ― Limits & Renewals (1932) 189 It's on the back of the passenger-list. 1958 B. Hamilton Too Much of Water ii. 23 A copy of the Passenger List which he had found in his cabin. 1973 A. Price October Men ii. 31 He was on the passenger list... It was an ordinary scheduled flight. |
1969 D. Barron Man who was There i. 14, I..was considering looking for Gregory beyond the confines of the passenger lounge when they began to broadcast the announcement of our impending departure. 1970 M. Pereira Pigeon's Blood viii. 95 The Hall..for obvious reasons, was the only way of leaving the Passenger Lounge. 1971 Passenger manifest [see manifest n. 3]. 1976 B. Jackson Flameout (1977) ix. 149 I've..got the list of cargo... And the passenger manifest. |
1931 W. L. Smith Air Transport Operation i. 5 The cost per passenger mile is about 7 cents for the largest passenger planes. Ibid. 4 In about the same period [12 yrs.], the capacity of passenger planes has increased from 2 to 30 passengers. 1937 Discovery May 164/1 The Pan-American Grace Company converted one of its passenger planes into a cargo plane. 1970 ‘D. Holliday’ Dolly & Cookie Bird viii. 124 Every now and then a big passenger plane would come droning in. 1975 S. Johnson Urbane Guerilla iii. 114 The US..has banned shipment of nuclear material by passenger plane. |
1844 Act 7 & 8 Vict. c. 85 §6 All Passenger Railway Companies..shall..provide for the Conveyance of Third Class Passengers to and from the terminal and other ordinary Passenger Stations of the Railway. |
1878 F. S. Williams Midl. Railw. 264 Some discrepancy in the account of the passenger receipts per train mile. |
1937 M. Allingham Dancers in Mourning xxiv. 299 The body lay doubled up on the floor with..its head jammed against the front of the passenger seat. 1962 D. Francis Dead Cert xvii. 187 Pete himself poked his big bald head out of the passenger seat and called to me. 1972 Guardian 5 Dec. 7/2 Travel organisers..[must] keep within the terms and conditions of their licences... The licence will cost {pstlg}250 a year plus 2p for each one-way passenger seat authorized by it. 1977 B. Pym Quartet in Autumn x. 91 Ken stuck in the passenger seat of a car on test. |
1836 Backwoods of Canada 7 The ‘Laurel’ is not a regular passenger-ship. |
1969 J. Gardner Compl. State of Death x. 216 He removed the bar, gently placed it on the passenger-side floor. 1972 Country Life 15 June 1577/2 A large glove box on the passenger side and a smaller one for the driver. |
1844 Passenger station [see passenger railway above]. |
1900 Westm. Gaz. 2 May 19/1 On the Clyde they manage things better in the way of passenger-steamer service than is done on the Thames. |
1841 Penny Cycl. XIX. 260/2 The passenger-tax..amounts to one-eighth of a penny per mile for every passenger carried. |
1976 New Yorker 16 Feb. 76/2 More personnel are needed at passenger terminals than at freight terminals relative to the value of their respective services. |
1780 A. Young Tour in Ireland ii. vi. 30 At the ports of Belfast, Derry, &c. the passenger trade as they called it, had long been a regular branch of commerce, which employed several ships, and consisted in carrying people to America. 1866 ‘Mark Twain’ Lett. from Hawaii (1967) 21 The sailing vessels..[are] too slow and uncertain to build up the passenger trade. 1972 ‘G. Black’ Bitter Tea (1973) vii. 110 The public is held back by a long counter..only we don't have much public really, not being in the passenger trade. |
1836 Mechanics' Mag. 15 Oct. 30/1 No credit whatever was taken in the Eastern Counties Railway estimates for any of the passenger-traffic from transmarine sources, as that traffic was, at best, of a contingent character. 1846 Penny Cycl. Suppl. II. 670/1 Coupled wheels..are now largely and increasingly employed for passenger traffic. 1883 W. H. Maw Recent Pract. Marine Engin. I. 117/2 In the case of a larger launch 40 ft. long fitted with engines of twenty indicated horse-power, and employed for passenger traffic on the River Dart, the average [fuel] consumption per week is but 10 cwt. 1933 S. L. Miller Inland Transportation xxi. 361 Efforts to increase the volume of railway passenger traffic have been in the past decade increasingly active. 1963 N. Wymer Behind Scenes at London Airport i. 17 The ‘Short-haul’ Building, opened in 1955, is for passenger traffic to and from Europe. 1976 Passenger traffic [see private motoring s.v. private a. (n.) 4 c]. |
1836 Mechanics' Mag. 5 Nov. 83/1 What is the usual weight you carry in one of your trains; your passenger train?—Forty or fifty tons; no, not more than thirty to forty tons, carriages and passengers together. 1846 Penny Cycl. Suppl. II. 660/2 One third-class passenger train..all along the line, on every day [etc.]. 1937 Discovery Mar. 88/2 Each [van]..is vacuum fitted and fully equipped for working on fast passenger trains. 1976 Daily Tel. 20 July 4/1 Last Thursday he left Nairobi in a passenger train for Kampala. |
1908 Westm. Gaz. 14 Mar. 2/1 Using the parallel of the street..he claimed that the river should be regarded as a passenger way. 1971 R. Petrie Thorne in Flesh xiv. 175 There was a large, dark saloon parked at the kerb... The nearside passenger window slid down and Tina called to him. 1977 P. Hill Fanatics 145 Dice..wound down the passenger window. |
b. Special
Comb., as
passenger-mile, a unit of measurement representing one passenger travelling a distance of one mile; hence
passenger-mileage; also
passenger-kilometre (
abbrev. km.).
1900 Geogr. Jrnl. XVI. 221 The number of passengers carried in 1898 was 126 millions, the number of passenger-kilometres amounting to 4439 millions. 1903 E. Johnson Amer. Railway Transportation x. 140 An equal mileage of road accommodates a much greater traffic in Europe than in the United States. This is shown by dividing the total number of miles traveled by all passengers (the ‘passenger miles’) by the miles of railroad. 1930 Flight 28 Nov. 1381/2 Taking paying passengers only, the figure becomes 41 passenger-miles. 1936 Jrnl. R. Aeronaut. Soc. XL. 850 The criterion then being the number of passenger miles flown per period. 1943 Ibid. XLVII. 249 An expectation that the accident rate can..be reduced to a long-term average of no more than 1·0 fatality per 100,000,000 passenger-miles. 1962 R. B. Fuller Epic Poem on Industrialization 219 Passenger miles per capita per annum By all modes of transport Represents a smoothly ascending Curve. 1971 Guardian 13 July 2/2 TWA on its own rates as the world's second largest airline—in terms of passenger-miles—behind United, the American domestic operator. 1974 State (Columbia, S. Carolina) 1 Apr. 2-A/2 (Advt.), If your carpool cars average, say, 13 miles to the gallon and you share costs with three others, you are paying for only one gallon in four, and you're getting 52 passenger miles-per-gallon. 1976 P. R. White Planning for Public Transport viii. 175 Of the 29000 million or more passenger-km generated on the BR system each year about 45 per cent are classified as intercity. 1978 Jrnl. R. Soc. Arts CXXVI. 427/1 In London Transport, we have adopted as our corporate aim the maximization of passenger-mileage within the financial resources available to us from fares and grants. |